Florida Trip Part 1

We made it to Florida safe and sound.............we even arrived a bit too early and had to kill off some time. The villa would not be available to us until 4 pm on Saturday. Originally, we figured we would stop in Daytona Beach but I figured that we could head to the Kennedy Space Center and that would be perfect for a time killer. We had taken the kids to the Space Center when the kids were small and I thought it would be great to take the grandkids there.

After parking the cars, we walked to the entrance of the Kennedy Space Center and I was stunned at the site of the ticket booths...............it costs alot of money to visit the space center now. When we had been here before, it was always free of charge except for the bus tour that takes you out to the launch pads. I was disgusted...........well.......I was pretty pissed off about this. We all decided that this wasn't gonna flush...............

Number Two Son posed next to the price sign. As you can see, what was once free is no longer free. I always thought of the Space Center being our tax dollars at work. This property belongs to every citizen of the United States. We all paid our tax dollars for this. We already paid.......and we ain't gonna pay no more. This is just yet another form of raising tax dollars even higher. Since they have done this.........they will soon charge (if they haven't already begun to do so) for everything you want to visit in Washington DC........such as the Smithsonian, the Air & Space Museum, etc. Don't get me wrong here, I believe that the Space Center is a worthwhile place to visit. Obviously, many people think so as well. The Space Center always attracted a huge amount of visitors.............when it was free. I would bet that those numbers have dropped in a huge way now that they charge a fee.

So this is all that my grandkids got to see. These taxpayer funded museum pieces of history sit within view of all who approached the entrance. As it turned out, I really needed to visit the men's room and fortunately for me there were facilities near the entrance. I looked inside the front doors of the attraction and saw what you would see at every airport...........scanners and checkpoint charlie.........people had to remove their shoes and empty their belongings into bins for "security purposes". Now I was furious about this whole situation. I told Supernurse...."This men's room had better be clean or I am gonna dump a huge load right on the floor of this place!." Supernurse started to laugh but she knows I was serious and would actually have done such a thing.............I did this once at a gas station/convenience store halfway between Nashville and Baltimore. Fortunately for everyone involved, the restroom was very clean this time......hehehe.

Because we had lived in Merritt Island for some time awhile back, I pretty much knew my way around and decided that Cocoa Beach was a very short drive away.........so we got into the cars and headed to the beach to kill off some time.

When we lived here, Cocoa Beach was never a place that we spent time......we had other thing to do.........but I do remember it as being a place that surfers enjoyed. We headed for the pier area and yes......there were surfers there. Unfortunately, the weather was not ideal.......it was very breezy and cold. Yes, it gets cold in Florida sometimes.

I am surprised that the pier is still here. After spending the majority of vacations lately in the Caribbean, this beach almost hurt to look at it.

Apparently nobody bothers to remove the seaweed that washes up onto the beach........and I got the impression that not many folks bother to use trash cans. Oh well...........this was gonna have to do for now......so we walked around and picked up alot of shells.

Number Two Son and his friend Dave were analyzing the situation.

They watched the surfers in the water..........and the few brave souls that dared go for a swim. The water was rather rough.

My grandson, Mayor Of Simpleton, roamed the beach for shells.

It looks to me that underneath the pier, you can see that things ain't very straight. You can rest assured that this might not be here too much longer...........if a hurricane has its way with it.

As you can see, not very many people were out on the beach......way too cold.


Princess Fartknocker was busy getting shells........she seemed to enjoy herself except when one of the seagulls came near her.

I love the beach........but I was not loving this one. This was dissappointing.............the USA could do better than this.

One last look before we headed west to Kissimmee.

We arrived in Kissimmee.......and we immediately found a Krystal burger place. My daughter just had to have some Krystal burgers. After we feasted on Krystals, we finally arrived at our destination.

Whoa..............this is the "villa"..............nice.............this beats staying at a hotel.

Here is a look beyond the rear wall behind the house. Nicely landscaped.

And there is a really nice built-in pool and it is screened in to keep all of those notorious Florida bugs away.
But it is too cold for a dip right now......we will have to wait for the pool to heat up in a day or two.

There is a small kiddie pool and a jacuzzi!...........exactly what we needed.

I will put up the pictures of the interior of the "villa" in the next installment..............you know you want to see inside.

We all settled in and got plenty of rest after the long road trip. Sunday came and it was Game Time!..............all of the boys and men must see the Ravens game and we went to a place called Beef O'Brady's to watch the game and eat. Of course the Ravens won!.........it was a nice treat to start off my birthday.

Later that day, we all loaded up the cars and headed to a place called Angel's for dinner. Lobster........all you can eat!

The place was pretty interesting.............lots of neon and memorabilia.

Imagine that..........Number Two Son had essentially the same coat.

My grandson, Signtopia Expansion Pack 2.1, was ready to gobble up some food.

Princess Fartknocker, is obviously in a state of bliss in anticipation of seeing all of her favorite characters at Disney............uh........maybe she was in heaven because they had macaroni and cheese here...............oh well...........

This dinner was very special for me. My daughters wanted to take me somewhere special for dinner on my birthday and anytime you can have seafood, including lobster.......all you can eat.......well........that is pretty special......................but for me, what is more special than that is,........that they were with me. I could have been just as happy sitting on a curb eating a hot dog as long as they were with me on my birthday.

So we continued the celebration of my birthday by heading back to the "villa" for some cake..........yes.........chocolate cake.......mmmmmmmmm.

And there I was................it was a darned good thing there was only one candle. With all the hair on my face, it isn't a good idea to be anywhere near 53 flaming pieces of wax.

The adventure begins...............

Happy Birthday to ME!